The Ironic Things in Life
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Final Fantasy 8, but I don't!
---
"Squall?" the cowboy asked again.
The guy with the slate blue eyes was of course Squall.
"I know the little lady's cute, but you can ogle at her inside," the cowboy teased.
Squall made a noise similar to an angry cat, and pushed his way inside. Rinoa followed, feeling extremely angry at his attitude.
"He's a strange guy. That's the first time I've ever seen him stare at a girl like that."
Rinoa realised that the cowboy was walking with her, so she tried to put an interested look onto her face.
"Really?" she managed to say, through gritted teeth.
"Good to know our Squall's noticing fine ladies such as you."
"Squall?" Rinoa wondered out loud, "Why have I heard that name before?"
The cowboy laughed.
"Of course you've heard that name before. He's…"
"Rinoa! Over here!"
Zell was waving his arms furiously in Rinoa's direction.
"Looks like your friends are waiting for you, so I'll see ya later," the cowboy said with a wink, before heading off to join a group of people.
Rinoa grimaced as she reached her friends and saw that Selphie had a dark bruise on her forehead,
"Are you alright, Selphie?"
Selphie nodded, not seeming to care that she had just knocked herself out by running into a glass door.
"Let's go dance, Zellie," she said, enthusiastically.
Zell didn't seem to notice that Selphie was talking to him, until she pulled at his spiky hair.
"What were you looking at?" Selphie wanted to know.
"N-nothing," Zell replied, turning red.
Selphie shrugged, and then grabbed his arm, pulling him onto the dance floor.
Quistis shook her head disapprovingly.
"She should really rest."
Rinoa took a seat beside the 21 year old instructor.
"Well, that's Selphie for you. She can never sit still."
Selphie's favourite song was currently playing.
'They did the mash, they did the monster mash. The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash. They did the mash, it caught on in a flash.'
Selphie was doing the craziest dance moves that anyone had ever seen, and Zell took several steps away from her just in case she disintegrated.
Everyone was now watching Selphie's antics with amusement. One of the onlookers was the guy with the cowboy hat.
"She's like a little fire cracker," he commented.
Squall scowled as his friend studied the short woman who was hopping around like a flightless dodo.
'They did the mash, they did the monster mash.'
"Do you think that blonde guy's her boyfriend?" the cowboy asked.
"Does it look like I care?" Squall muttered, staring over at the blonde guy who was now backing away from the woman as if she might explode.
"Awright, let's do this," the cowboy said.
Squall stared at him, wondering what he was up to.
Irvine took his long coat off and strode onto the dance floor to join the young woman.
Squall rolled his eyes, and leaned back on the chair. His eyes fell on the young woman sitting across the room. She had ebony hair, dark eyes and porcelain skin. Right now she was studying him intensely.
The young woman quickly looked away when she saw that he had glanced in her direction.
Squall scowled again and continued to watch his friend dancing with the tiny brunette.
-----
"Is it just me," Quistis said, "or is that cowboy singing something bizarre?"
Only minutes ago, the cowboy from earlier on had joined Selphie as "Blame it on the Boogie" began to play.
"No, you're right," Zell said joining the two girls, "He's singing, 'Bang, don't blame it on the sunshine. Bang, bang, don't blame it on the moonlight. Bang, blame it on the boogie.'"
Quistis raised a perfect eyebrow.
"Er…well, he seems um, interesting, right Rinoa?"
Rinoa was too busy staring at Squall to reply.
Zell smirked.
"Our Rinoa has other priorities."
Unfortunately Rinoa heard Zell's remark, and furiously turned on him.
"I'll have you know Zell Dincht that a month ago, because of that imbecile, my expensive 'Ellone' kit got smashed, and is unfixable!"
Zell leaped back in fright.
"I-I…"
"Exactly! So before I go and bite his head off, I'd like some time to observe his weak points!"
Rinoa stormed off, leaving Quistis and Zell to stare after her.
"Was it very expensive?" Zell asked, weakly.
"5,000 Gil," Quistis responded, calmly taking a sip of her cocktail.
-----
Rinoa Heartilly strode over to Squall furiously.
"Hurry up and apologise so that I can go back to my friends and enjoy my cocktail."
Squall stared up at her blankly.
"Apologise for what?"
"You know exactly what for!"
"I'm afraid I don't."
"Yes, you do!"
"Settle down, there's no need to create a fuss."
"You knocked me over last month! You smashed my 'Ellone' make up kit! Do you know how expensive those things are! Do you know how many months it took me to raise the money to buy it!"
Squall studied the angry young woman, wondering how long she could go on shouting for.
"Hello! Are you even listening! Don't even try and pull a 'groove land' on me! I live with Selphie Tilmitt!"
Squall was highly amused. She was babbling now, saying insane things that made no sense.
"You stupid idiot!"
Rinoa was breathing hard now, her ivory skin flushed.
Squall slowly got to his feet.
"Even if I did know what you were talking about, I still wouldn't apologise because you were too blind to see where you were going."
Rinoa stared at him in disbelief. She had never met such an arrogant guy in her entire life.
"You were the one who knocked me over!" she insisted.
Squall shrugged.
"Your loss."
Rinoa seethed with rage, detesting everything about the young man standing before her.
"Y-you incompetent nincompoop!" she shouted.
Several people nearby looked curiously in their direction.
Squall ran a hand through his messy brown hair, and jammed a hand in his pocket, producing his wallet.
"Look, do you want me to pay for the stupid thing?"
Rinoa looked insulted.
"I don't need your charity! I'm not a beggar!"
Squall sighed.
"You could've fooled me."
Rinoa couldn't believe her ears. This young man was making a fool out of her. She hated everything about him; his uncaring manner, his obnoxious smirk and even his casual stance.
"You filthy, horrid, mali…"
"Ok, Rin that's enough alcohol for you," Quistis said, pulling Rinoa away from Squall.
"Quistis…what're you…? I haven't finished with him!" Rinoa argued.
"Rinoa, let it go. Everyone's staring," Quistis reasoned.
"DON'T THINK THAT YOU'VE HEARD THE LAST OF ME!" Rinoa managed to say, before Quistis pulled her out of the hotel.
-----
The next day Rinoa was in a terrible mood. She stayed in her room all morning and stuck a sign on her door saying, 'Don't disturb me unless that jerk dies'.
Zell, who had already been at the receiving end of one Rinoa's outbursts, steered clear of her room.
Quistis, Zell and Selphie sat around the kitchen table, eating their breakfast and discussing the events of the previous night.
"So Selphie, who was that guy you were dancing with?" Zell asked, scratching his back with a fork.
Quistis smacked him across the head sharply, and wrestled the fork out of his hand.
"We do not use kitchen utensils as scratching posts, Zell!" she snapped.
Zell turned red and looked around at Selphie, waiting for her answer.
"I never got his name. We had to leave before I could," Selphie replied.
"Rinoa really lost it, huh?" Zell commented, as Quistis unrolled the morning paper.
"That guy must've been a pig! No one can ever make Rinoa lose her temper like that," Selphie said, crunching into her apple and sending drops of apple juice flying over Zell's face.
"Rin's about to lose her temper even more," Quistis said in a quiet voice.
"Whaddya mean?" Zell asked, messily buttering his toast.
Quistis turned the newspaper around. On the front page was a picture of Rinoa yelling at Squall.
Selphie's eyes widened and she absently flung her apple core in Zell's direction. Zell was too shocked to dodge the apple, and it hit him on the head.
"Why would Rinoa be in the paper?" he asked, awakening from his stupor.
Quistis read aloud.
"Last night at a party hosted by the famous T-board shop 'Zantetsuken', Squall Leonhart was harassed by an unknown young woman. Leonhart is of course the son of Laguna Loire, President of Esthar, and is also the star of the upcoming movie "The Sorceress War". The reason behind the young lady's attack was unknown but Leonhart was seen offering her his wallet. The young lady is said to be an enraged lover or prostitute of some sort."
Zell's jaw dropped.
"Wh-what!"
Selphie looked like she was about to faint.
"Oh my god, Rinoa's going to…"
Quistis nodded in agreement.
"I know."
"Well, should we tell her?" Zell asked.
Quistis' lips tightened, and she nodded.
"But we should do it very care…"
"RIN-RIN!" Selphie shouted, grabbing the newspaper off the table and racing towards Rinoa's room, "LOOKIE WHAT'S IN THE PAPER ABOUT YOU!"
Quistis and Zell were too stunned to stop her, and by the time they had run after Selphie, Rinoa had already emerged from her room.
"Did you say that I'm in the paper?" she asked.
Selphie nodded, whilst Zell and Quistis both shook their heads.
Rinoa raised an eyebrow at the trio and reached for the paper that Selphie was holding out.
"Wait!" Zell said, jumping in between Rinoa and Selphie, and crashing into the wall.
Rinoa stared at him, and then looked down at the paper.
-----
"Squall," the cowboy said urgently, shaking his friend awake.
Squall swiped at him and rolled over on his stomach.
"Squall, this isn't the time to sleep."
"What the hell do you want, Irvine?"
The cowboy, Irvine Kinneas, clicked his fingers in irritation.
"You'll see after you get up."
Squall sat up in his canopy bed and gave the Irvine the coldest look that he could muster.
"This better be good."
Irvine motioned towards the window, and Squall got up to have a look.
Outside were about two dozen flashing cameras.
Squall's eyes widened and he stepped away from the window to look at Irvine.
"What the…? Isn't that more than three times the amount that are usually around."
Irvine nodded, and handed him the newspaper.
"Eat your heart out."
Squall scanned through the front page article, and his eyes practically flew out of his head.
-----
"A PROSTITUTE!" Rinoa raged.
"Rin, calm down," Quistis said, soothingly.
"A PROSTITUTE!"
For the past half hour those had been the only two words that Rinoa had uttered.
"It's just a simple mistake," Quistis said.
"A mistake! How can they mistake me for a PROSTITUTE!"
Quistis sighed.
"Look Rinoa, you've gotta calm down so we can sort this out."
Rinoa collapsed onto the sofa, her throat hoarse from shouting.
"My life is over."
"Don't say that, Rin," Selphie comforted, sitting down next to her, "At least your famous now."
Quistis frowned.
"Selphie, I don't think that's helping."
Rinoa buried her head in her hands.
"What do we do, Quistis?" she asked.
Just at that moment, Zell burst through the front door.
"Ok! I've got it!" he said, jumping on the balls of his feet.
"Got what?" Rinoa asked.
"An interview for you with Jade Bloom on the TBG radio show tomorrow morning."
"A radio appearance?"
Zell nodded.
"That's brilliant, Zell," Rinoa said, wrapping her arms around the spiky haired blonde.
"But…." Zell said, hesitantly.
Rinoa looked at him curiously.
"But what….?"
"Er…" Zell said, running a hand nervously through his spiky hair.
This was the part that he really didn't want to say. He knew it wouldn't go down very well with Rinoa.
"Er, what Zell?" Rinoa asked, suspiciously.
"Um, well the thing is that….you know that guy…um, Squall, well he's got an interview scheduled at the same time."
Rinoa's face turned a purple-red and she threw Quistis' new glass vase at Zell's head, who dodged it.
"No way! No way in HELL!" she yelled, just as the vase smashed.
Quistis flinched.
A/N: Sorry for the late update! This chapter would've been up way sooner, but the site wouldn't let me upload (there was some error thingy). But please read and review. Thankies... :)
Also thanks a million to my two reviewers; you guys were great and I hope this next chapter is to your liking. :)